This course deals with the aesthetics, history and theory of
fashion. We will investigate the functions of fashion as a
performative, cultural and social practice. What social, cultural
and gender norms regulate/have regulated the clothing in historical
and contemporary everyday performances? How do these norms relate
to the body and its actions and movements?

Furthermore, we will address the question how fashion is
presented and located: in catwalk performances, photographs and
videos. The existing conventions associated with these media will
be subject to investigation. How do fashion and costume determine
movement on and off stage?

Not least, we will investigate fashion’s critical potential. Can
celebrity performances, such as Lady Gaga’s, that make use of
techniques like quoting and cross-dressing, be read as critical
towards certain norms?

Besides reading and discussing theoretical and historiographical
fashion texts, we will carry out catwalk and detail analyses to
illuminate how the staging of fashion popularises, taboos or
normalizes body concepts.